Roxana Sendejo Is Dancing Her Way Toward the 'Crazy Ex-Girlfriend' Finale (Exclusive)

You could forgive Roxana Sendejo for being a little bit sad. She may be the happiest sad person ever, though, because while talking about the end of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, she's equal parts sentimental about her four years on The CW musical comedy and excited about what the future holds, which at the moment is the release of the Netflix romantic comedy Someone Great.

Sendejo is a triple threat, who was first able to showcase her acting, dancing and singing abilities on Glee almost a decade ago. Years on the hit Fox show honed her skills and put Sendejo on the radar of Crazy Ex co-creator and star Rachel Bloom. She is now relishing in the possibilities that the progressive show has brought not just for her but for many women in the entertainment space. Couple that with the excitement she feels for her fellow Latinas like Eva Longoria, America Ferrera and Stephanie Beatriz moving the needle forward for diverse women as well, and you can see why the future is so bright that Sendejo has just got to, well, dance.

ET spoke with the 31-year-old actress shortly after the Crazy Ex series finale wrapped, and we looked back on her four years in West Covina (we promise no spoilers before the April 5 finale!), where she hopes her character, Valencia, will end up, and her own plans for the future.

ET: I was lucky enough to see the table read for the series finale, which was full of tears. Was taping the actual episode just as emotional for the cast?

Roxana Sendejo: It definitely was. We all have such a mix of pride and happiness about our entire experiences on this show, and especially for that last episode, but total sadness that it's over too. I tried to be there for every moment that the final episode was shooting, even when I wasn't needed on set. I wanted to take it all in. That final day we enjoyed together and wrapped as series regulars all together, which was thoughfully planned. Minus it being two in the morning when we wrapped but it didn't matter, we would have been there celebrating until then anyway.

When you first found out that Valencia's character was bisexual, how did you feel about this new arc for the rest of the series?

Admittedly, I was nervous... for like a split second. I think most fans know that I'm bisexual and I've played many queer characters over the years, so I went through a range of emotions like, "Is this predictable and expected because it's me? Who cares if it is? Will the fans believe it? Of course they will, a bunch of them ship Vabecca!" It was a roller coaster, but obviously I want any and every opportunity to share another queer story. And it's definitely not out of nowhere either. Fans clocked a chemistry between Valencia and Rebecca very early and wanted them to get together. It was actually one of my audition sides - the couch scene in [the episode] "Josh's Girlfriend Is Really Cool" - that sparked the Vabecca hashtag and I think it was that scene that sparked Rachel into upping my guest star role into recurring and now here we are four years later. The seeds were planted from the start and they just had to bloom at the right moment.

Valencia has grown so much in four years. Is there one major development of hers that really stood out to you?

It's definitely her bisexuality and the way that was handled.

Aline [Brosh McKenna] took me aside to talk out what they had in mind and, funnily enough, she was like nervous about it. I think most fans know that I'm bisexual and I've played many queer characters over the years, so why would she be nervous, right? Well, I absolutely love "Gettin' Bi" and even came to set when they were filming that performance, so Aline felt nervous to tell me that Valencia's coming out would be in any way understated in comparison. I love it, though. I've been lucky to show multiple experiences of coming out, specifically in teen years, and doing so now is still special. I think Valencia's experience of falling for a woman without the coming out process being a struggle for herself, her family, her friends - I want that to be the rule rather than the exception. Media is a reflection of how the world is and also how we want it to be, so I think we did an amazing job when it comes to queer representation and what we deserve.

Aline and Rachel have written very smart scripts and really seem to have thought out every detail. Does it feel that way to experience their writing as an actor?

Absolutely. I'll never be able to explain how they work together because it's so unique to them. They're both brilliant and together it's on another level. Speaking of Valencia's bisexuality, their decision to incorporate it with the time jump for Heather's pregnancy, I thought that was perfect.

I'm obsessed with both Aline and Rachel's brains. Just to even keep up is such an honor. Their shorthand conversations on set -- you just stay out of the way, especially when Aline directs. But the whole Valencia conversation of introducing her bisexuality and that time jump when Vella Lovell's character, Heather, is pregnant, I thought it was brilliant that they did that there. I'm a heterosexual in real life, and I loved how my chemistry with Emma was very, very sincere. We really understood each other. We felt very comfortable physically with each other, and she was such a dude. She was just so cool and simple and took care of me on set. It was just the best match for me, and I love where they end up.

Do you have any songs or dances coming up in the last episodes that you're particularly excited about?

I am excited that the #girlgroupforever moments get a full-circle story, and I'm really excited to finally work with Rachel Grate, who plays Audra Levine. She's the "JAP Battle" rap nemesis of Rachel Bunch from New York. Rachel and I became best of friends after season one. I even subletted from her and she's now engaged! There are some moments where Valencia actually gets to have conversations with Audra Levine, and [the characters] really are very similar. We get to hang as a girl group with Audra Levine in a very fun and peculiar story that's coming along. With that storyline, Donna Lynne [Champlin], Vella, myself and Rachel really got to create a final story arc for the girl group. And in the final episode, which I didn't know in the table read, Aline, as the director, took great care with our final moments in a few rewrites. It's a huge moment. I got emotional with her just explaining it to me, like, "Oh my god, it's really over!"

Where do you hope Valencia will be five years from now?

I do truly know that Beth and she would take advantage of their power couple skills and be executives of their own events firm in New York, at least with one kid and pregnant with the other one. She's going to live her multi-level marketing life in her 40s.

Crazy Ex is known for its songs. What's on your playlist these days?

A lot of Ariana Grande. I'm loving Lizzo. I just discovered her and her song, "Juice." And always what Pete Gardner says is "Yacht Rock" -- a little disco, a little pop. Now that it's pilot season, the last thing that's on my list is classical music for when I memorize and study. It keeps me chill but alert, and I'm a little more productive.

You've been on Broadway and it always seemed like that as far as being a triple threat, dancing was your main focus. Now that you've done this show for four years, do you want to go back to focusing on dancing or has that trajectory changed?

Before Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, I was on my third Broadway show. In all three, I was always an understudy, the first replacement on Broadway, so I was never part of the creative opening moments of the shows that I did. I was very honored that I could be the first new person the creative team trusted to be able to repeat what was going on so well, but I was craving at the end of that season to be part of creativity, to be part of a new project, something that hasn't been done before. Hamilton was just starting to percolate off-Broadway, and I was ready. That was the season of Aladdin, On Your Feet and Hamilton, and all three shows, type-wise, I matched, but they just didn't ever work out. I always say God's plans are so much more fun than mine because when Crazy Ex-Girlfriend happened, I was able to do that on a scale that I never thought I would be able to be a part of, which is television. Then that Bollywood number happened, "I'm So Good at Yoga," and it became part of Kathryn Burns' winnings for choreography. I know that dancing will always be a part of what I do because I was a dance major in college and I do miss that. My body doesn't! But I do feel very grateful that I was able to exercise that part of me in Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. Pete always says, "I love seeing you dance, you sparkle in a very different way," and I forget that I'm not a dancer in Hollywood! I don't know where the dance studios are here. I did that for so long in New York and I do miss that part of the dance energy in a room. It's refreshing to see that again for the little moments that we have in Crazy Ex that have very strong dance [scenes]. But then I have to go to cryotherapy the next day!

When I was growing up, there was no Hamilton, and the most diverse Broadway musical I remember going to was Rent. Did you ever feel like it was harder to break into the Broadway world as a Latina?

No, it wasn't. I was always the token brunette with all the blonde girls, because for being Latina, I was a little more fair-skinned. I was the only girl in In the Heights with straight hair -- I didn't have wet, curly hair. People thought I was Italian or Greek, so I was able to honestly blend a little bit. But the first day I walked into rehearsals for In the Heights, Eliseo Roman said, "You walked into that room, and I said, 'She's a Mejicana.'" He just knew I was Mexican-American like Selena Quintanilla, Eva Longoria-type Tex-Mex. I was never specifically known to be Latina unless I was around a lot of Latinos. Like those On Your Feet auditions, you'd put us all next to each other, and I looked very Latina, or very Mexican, specifically. The diversity in the ensemble was always welcomed on Broadway and in theater. I feel lucky to be introduced to Hollywood in this new development of diversity for women and for minorities, where the definition of minority might change in a couple of years, I hope.

Eva Longoria, Gina Rodriguez and America Ferrera are all having very big moments producing and directing and it feels they're making space in Hollywood for more Latinas.

Absolutely, and bringing us to the table with them. That's what is so wonderful to see and the Latino community has always been open like that. From my experience in the professional world, like when Lin-Manuel [Miranda] was doing In the Heights with us, even though it was small and mighty, back then to where it is now, they were a part of that. They were bringing those people with them because there were enough seats, just add a chair. If there's not a chair, we'll just go get one for you. That's what I want to be a part of.